Statistics released by the Honolulu Police Department this week show the sales of new handguns, rifles and shotguns issued on Oahu for the year are again headed for a record.
HPD spokeswoman Michelle Yu said that by Oct. 31, gun sales were at 20,991, on a pace to exceed 2011’s record of 23,443.
That doesn’t come as a surprise to the hundreds who’ve stood in the gun registration line spilling out of HPD’s Records and Identification Division office at police headquarters on South Beretania Street in recent weeks. The line was about 30 deep at noon Friday, with those in the front of the line saying they’d spent two hours there.
Practically every gun owner and gun store owner the Star-Advertiser spoke with for this story said anticipation of President Barack Obama’s re-election is what led to the spike in gun sales in recent months and that the sales heightened exponentially after general election day on Nov. 6.
Dale Hayama, owner of Young Guns in Mapunapuna, said business has been growing steadily at his shop since Obama was first elected in 2008.
During the second presidential debate in mid-October, Obama surprised many by renewing his call for a ban on assault weapons. While actual assault weapons are banned on Oahu, that pronouncement triggered a bump in the sale of semiautomatic weapons here, Hayama said. And after the president’s election earlier this month, "all hell broke loose," Hayama said.
He estimated that sales are up 30 to 40 percent since the beginning of November.
"If it wasn’t for him, I would say there would be millions less gun owners in the United States," Hayama said.
Some gun enthusiasts worry that with the election over, stricter gun laws are inevitable under Obama, while others say the president’s policies will lead to an increase in crime and a need for more protection, he said.
HONOLULU GUN REGISTRATIONS
| YEAR |
TOTAL |
| 2012 |
20,991* |
| 2011 |
23,443 |
| 2010 |
19,853 |
| 2009 |
21,631 |
| 2008 |
16,417 |
| 2007 |
13,606 |
| 2006 |
12,351 |
*As of Oct. 31
Source: Honolulu Police Department
|
"People have a fear of the future," Hayama said. "If the economic future of the U.S. goes down, crime is going to go up. That’s why people are running out to buy guns. They’re afraid of what’s happening."
Carter Berlin, managing member of OGC Tactical LLC in Kalihi, said gun and ammunition sales jumped by 50 to 60 percent in the three days immediately after the election and have remained steady at about 30 percent above normal in the weeks since.
When it comes to ammunition, people are tending to buy in bulk, he said. Instead of the two to three boxes of shells they may need for a day at the shooting range, "they’re buying by the caseload," Berlin said.
Brandon Delpailao, 37, of Kalihi was in line at HPD on Friday to pick up a permit allowing him to buy rifles. Delpailao views himself more of a gun collector than a shooter. He did not plan to buy a gun immediately, but keeps a permit, good for up to a year, on hand in case he sees something he likes and wants to act quickly to make a purchase.
Delpailao said he was only in line because his current permit was about to expire, not because he is worried about new legislation.
While many pro-gun supporters worry that Obama will try to enact stricter gun laws, Delpailao said he believes "this is just hype." He said he anticipated Obama would be re-elected months ago and bought stock in both Smith & Wesson and Ruger. The stock value of both have gone up significantly, he said.
Makakilo resident Brian Hatcher, 34, was also in line to pick up a permit allowing him to purchase an assault rifle.
Personally, Hatcher said, he doesn’t see stricter laws since "there are still a good number of Republicans" that control the U.S. House of Representatives.
Next to Hatcher in line was Kailua resident Jason Goyanko, 38, who said he was in line to pick up permits allowing him to purchase a handgun and a rifle. Goyanko said he realizes that any stricter gun law would take time to move through either Congress or the state Legislature. Nonetheless, he said, "why wait?"
The long lines at HPD turned off many gun owners.
Yahya Ali, a 21-year-old Schofield soldier, was hoping to get a permit to purchase a version of the Colt .45-caliber pistol that he and about 30 others in his 95th Engineer Company decided to purchase to commemorate their deployment in Afghanistan last year. But with another appointment scheduled for the afternoon, Ali had to turn away.
"The line’s too long," he said.
Hatcher said that with as many police substations and satellite city halls as there are islandwide, he does not understand why there is only one place people can go to register their guns.
"They make it as difficult as they can," he said.
Goyanko questioned why people who were returning only to pick up their permits to get their guns could not be processed separately.
About 10 minutes after Goyanko asked that question, an HPD employee emerged from behind the counter to help those there only to obtain their final permits.
The Records and Identification Division is short-handed and cannot assign additional workers to the counter, Yu said. However, "even if additional staff were available, it would not shorten the wait in line, since what takes up the most time is entering the data into the computer system."
Berlin of OGC Tactical advised gun buyers to be patient. The high demand has resulted in low supplies and higher prices of both weapons and ammunition, he said. If that trend continues, manufacturers and distributors will have no choice but to increase inventory, leading to a restabilization of prices, he said.
